清 Qing · 诗 Poem
岁暮到家
Returning Home at Year's End
爱子心无尽，归家喜及辰。
寒衣针线密，家信墨痕新。
见面怜清瘦，呼儿问苦辛。
低回愧人子，不敢叹风尘。
Returning home, joy at the right time.
Winter clothes stitched with fine threads close,
Home letters with ink marks still fresh.
Seeing me thin, she feels pity,
Calls her son to ask of hardship.
Hesitant, ashamed as a son,
I dare not sigh about the road's dust and wind.
Meaning
The poem portrays a mother's boundless love and the child's joy and guilt upon returning home. Through the details of the densely sewn winter coat and the fresh letters, the mother's care is vividly shown. When she sees her son's thinness, she asks about his struggles. The son, feeling ashamed, does not dare to mention the hardships of his journey.
爱子之心永无尽头，我归家正赶上这美好的时辰。御寒的衣裳针脚细密，家信上墨迹还新。母亲见我怜我爱我清瘦，唤儿问起一路的辛苦。我低回犹豫，愧为人子，不敢诉说旅途的风尘劳顿。
Appreciation
This pentasyllabic regulated verse by Jiang Shiquan uses simple, everyday details to convey deep emotion. The final couplet, with the son's hesitation and his decision not to complain, is particularly poignant, revealing his filial piety and guilt.
【白话串讲】 过年回家，母亲给他缝的寒衣针脚密密，家信墨迹还新。“见面怜清瘦，呼儿问苦辛”——母亲见到他，第一句是：瘦了。蒋士铨说：“不敢叹风尘”——不敢让母亲知道外面的苦。 【意象与手法】 全诗紧扣「到家」二字，以时间为序白描亲见：颔联「寒衣针线密，家信墨痕新」以两件实物写母爱之细——衣密见缝纫之勤，信新见思念之频；颈联「见面怜清瘦，呼儿问苦辛」以母之动作语言写慈爱之切。最妙在尾联「低回愧人子，不敢叹风尘」，诗人本有羁旅之悲，却怕母亲担忧而隐忍不诉，以「不敢」收束，千言万语尽在无声，含蓄深永。 【情感与主旨】 蒋士铨为乾隆朝著名诗人，诗风苍秀，论者谓其「清真鋭折」。此诗题「岁暮到家」，写诗人长年游幕在外，至岁末方归，与老母团聚之事。中国古代士子多羁旅谋生，母子聚少离多，诗人捕捉归家一瞬的母子对话与心理，将普天下游子归乡的共同体验凝于八句，是清代亲情诗中的上乘之作。 【名句点睛】 常考：（1）「寒衣针线密，家信墨痕新」的细节描写及其作用；（2）尾联「不敢叹风尘」中「不敢」二字蕴含的情感；（3）全诗以「到家」为纲、由喜转愧的情感脉络。
Background
Jiang Shiquan (1725–1784) was a prominent Qing dynasty poet. This poem, written during a period when he served as a traveling secretary, describes his return home at the end of the year to see his aging mother. It captures a universal moment of reunion and the complex feelings of a wandering son.
蒋士铨（1725—1785），字心余，号藏园，江西铅山人，清代乾隆朝著名诗人、戏曲家，与袁枚、赵翼并称「江右三大家」。其诗以性情为主，兼擅古文词曲，诗风苍秀，论者谓其「清真鋭折」。蒋士铨早年家贫，为生计与功名长年奔走，游幕四方，后又入仕为官，一生与老母聚少离多。此诗题「岁暮到家」，写诗人岁末归家与老母团聚的情形：爱子心无尽，归家喜及辰，寒衣针线密，家信墨痕新——母亲缝衣寄信、望子归来的深情，与诗人归家一瞬的愧疚交织。中国古代士子多羁旅谋生，母子天各一方，岁暮团聚是最珍贵也最心酸的时刻，诗人捕捉这一瞬的母子对话与心理，将普天下游子归乡的共同体验凝于八句，是清代亲情诗中的上乘之作。蒋士铨《忠雅堂诗集》中亲情诗甚多，此诗为其归家省亲之作。据载蒋士铨事母至孝，母病则亲尝汤药，其诗集中《梦母》《展先母墓》等作皆真挚动人。此诗以「到家」为题，正是抓住游子归家最动情的一瞬，把平日积累的思念与愧疚一并写出，故能字字从肺腑流出。
Art
The poem is characterized by unadorned description. The second couplet focuses on two concrete objects—the winter coat and the letter—to show the mother's meticulous care. The third couplet uses direct dialogue. The final couplet's 'dare not' is a masterstroke, conveying deep emotion through restraint.
全诗紧扣「到家」二字，以时间为序白描亲见。首联「爱子心无尽，归家喜及辰」总起：母爱无尽，归家及时，喜气先至。颔联「寒衣针线密，家信墨痕新」以两件实物写母爱之细——寒衣针脚细密，见母亲缝纫之勤；家信墨痕犹新，见母亲思念之频，物物皆见母心。颈联「见面怜清瘦，呼儿问苦辛」以动作语言写慈爱之切：一见面先怜儿清瘦，急急呼唤询问一路辛苦，慈母情态如见。尾联「低回愧人子，不敢叹风尘」是全诗情感的升华：诗人本有羁旅之悲、风尘之叹，却因怕母亲担忧而隐忍不诉，以「不敢」二字收束，千言万语尽在无声。全诗由喜入愧，由母爱写子心，层层深入，语言朴素而情致深永，是清代五律中白描写情的典范。全诗以「喜」起、以「愧」结，情感的转折是全诗最见匠心处：首联「喜及辰」是归家之喜，颔联颈联写母爱之细，至尾联「低回愧人子」陡然一转，由母之爱引出子之愧，喜中见愧、愧中见爱，层层递进。八句之中，前六句皆写母，后两句专写己，母子相对、情意往复，正是律诗「以情驭法」的典范。
Allusions
The poem does not use specific literary allusions, but it continues the tradition of plainspoken, domestic poetry found in the 'Nineteen Old Poems' and Tao Qian. The phrase 'wind and dust' is a common metaphor for the hardships of travel and life.
本诗无明显用典，纯以白描叙事抒情，得《古诗十九首》与陶潜家常之趣。「寒衣针线密」暗承孟郊《游子吟》「慈母手中线，游子身上衣。临行密密缝，意恐迟迟归」的母子意象，然视角已换：孟郊写临行之缝，此诗写归家之衣与信，由「临行」到「岁暮」，母爱绵延于分离的全过程，是对《游子吟》母题的隔代回响。「家信墨痕新」之「墨痕」见书信往返之频，暗合古代游子家书传统的温暖。「不敢叹风尘」暗承古诗「悲莫悲兮生别离」及游子传统，化用无形；「风尘」本指旅途劳顿与世路艰辛，在此兼指诗人谋生不易，用语平易而寄慨深沉，正见藏园「以常语写至情」的功力。全诗用典皆化于生活，是清诗「以性情为诗」的体现。「爱子心无尽」化用《战国策》「父母之爱子，则为之计深远」之意，以「无尽」写母爱之绵长；「归家喜及辰」则暗含《诗经·小雅》「之子于归」的归家之喜。全诗虽不用僻典，却处处承古诗传统，把「慈母」「游子」两个母题融于一体，正是清诗「以学问为诗」而不露痕迹的体现。
Commentary
Critics praise Jiang's ability to express genuine emotion through simple language. This poem is often compared to Meng Jiao's 'Song of the Wandering Son' for its theme of maternal love, but Jiang adds a layer of the son's guilt, making it more complex.
蒋士铨诗以性情胜。清·袁枚称其诗「如天半朱霞，云中白鹤」，王昶谓「藏园诗沉郁顿挫」，皆见其诗格之苍秀。此律写母子至情，近人评其亲情诗「字字从肺腑流出」。全诗八句，前六句写母，后两句写己，以「到家」为枢纽，由「喜」入「愧」：喜的是归家及辰、母体安康，愧的是为人子而不能承欢、反令母亲牵挂。尾联「不敢叹风尘」较之《游子吟》「谁言寸草心，报得三春晖」，另出一境——孟郊写报恩之志，此诗写隐忍之愧，不仅颂母，更写游子之心，情更深一层。此诗的价值在于以最寻常的归家情景写出最普遍的母子深情，白描之中见沉厚，是清代亲情诗的代表作，也是中国诗歌「以情动人」传统的延续。此诗与《游子吟》并称中国诗歌写母爱的双璧，然视角互补：孟郊以游子之心颂母恩，蒋诗以归子之眼写母情，一者重在「报」，一者重在「愧」。历代选家多将此诗与《游子吟》并置，正见其足以媲美唐人。就清代诗史而言，此诗是「性灵」与「格调」融合的佳例，既见袁枚性灵说的真性情，又具沈德潜格调说的谨严法度。
Prosody
Line by line
爱子心无尽， 归家喜及辰。
A mother's love has no end; I come home in joy, just in the season.
爱子之心永无尽头，我归家正赶上这美好的时辰。
A mother's love has no end; my return home falls just at this happy time.
首联总起，点出「到家」主题与全诗情感基调。「爱子心无尽」直写母爱：母亲爱子之心永无尽头，「无尽」二字写尽母爱的绵长深厚，与孟郊「意恐迟迟归」的牵挂异曲同工；「归家喜及辰」写诗人归家正赶上美好的时辰——岁暮归家，恰值团聚，一个「喜」字写出归家的欣悦与母子的期盼相逢。两句一写母、一写己，母心无尽与归家及时相映，喜气先至。然「及辰」二字又暗含「迟」意：若再迟些，恐错过时节，隐隐透出羁旅之人归家不易的辛酸，为尾联「不敢叹风尘」埋下伏笔。此联以总起定调，喜中含愧，是全诗情感展开的起点。
The first couplet opens generally, naming the theme of arriving home and the emotional tone of the whole. A mother's love has no end writes a mother's love directly: her love for her son has no end; the word endless writes the length and depth of mother's love, matching Meng Jiao's fear of the delayed return. I come home in joy, just in the season writes the poet's return falling at the fair time — year's end and home, the reunion timely; the single joy writes the delight of returning and the mother's waiting. Two lines, one of the mother, one of the self: the mother's endless heart set against the timely return, joy arriving first. Yet the timely carries an undertone of the late: any later, and the season might be missed, faintly showing the bitterness of the traveler's hard homecoming, planting the foreshadowing of dare not sigh of the dust of the road in the last couplet. The couplet opens and fixes the tone, joy with shame within, the starting point of the poem's emotional unfolding.
寒衣针线密， 家信墨痕新。
The winter coat's stitches are close; the home letter's ink marks are fresh.
御寒的衣裳针脚细密，家信上墨迹还新。
The winter robe is stitched with dense stitches; the ink on the home letters is still fresh.
颔联以两件实物写母爱之细，是全诗最见功力的白描。「寒衣针线密」写御寒之衣针脚细密——衣是母亲所缝，针线愈密，愈见缝纫之勤与关爱之深，密密的针脚正是绵绵的母爱；「家信墨痕新」写家信墨迹犹新——信是母亲所寄，墨痕未干，愈见思念之频与盼归之切。「密」与「新」二字相对：衣密见母心之细，信新见母心之切，一物一信，母爱于物象中自现。此联不写母之言语行动，只写寒衣与家信两个细节，以小见大，正是「于无声处见深情」的笔法。寒衣御寒，家信寄思，两件寻常之物经诗人点化，成为母爱最凝练的象征，为下联「见面怜清瘦」的相见场景作了铺垫。
The second couplet writes the fineness of mother's love through two concrete objects, the plain-painting mastery of the poem. The winter coat's stitches are close writes the winter garment's dense stitching — the coat sewn by the mother, the closer the stitches the more her diligence and love, the dense stitches themselves the long mother's love. The home letter's ink marks are fresh writes the home letter's ink still new — the letter sent by the mother, the ink not dry, the more her longing and her waiting for the return. The close and the fresh set against each other: the coat's closeness shows the minuteness of the mother's heart, the letter's freshness shows her eagerness; object and letter, the mother's feeling self-revealed in the things. The couplet writes neither mother's words nor actions, but the two details of the winter coat and the home letter, the great through the small, precisely the brush of deep feeling seen in silence. The winter coat wards the cold, the home letter carries longing; two ordinary things, touched by the poet, become the most condensed symbols of mother's love, preparing the meeting scene of pitying my thinness below.
见面怜清瘦， 呼儿问苦辛。
At meeting, she pities my thinness; she calls her son, asks of the hardships.
母亲见我怜我爱我清瘦，唤儿问起一路的辛苦。
Seeing me, she grieves how thin I have grown; she calls her son and asks of the hardships of the road.
颈联转写相见之景，以动作语言写慈爱之切，是全诗最见情致的一联。「见面怜清瘦」写母亲一见面便怜爱儿子清瘦——不问他事，先看他瘦了，「怜」字写尽慈母心疼，儿之清瘦正见在外之辛劳，母之怜惜正见用心之深；「呼儿问苦辛」写母亲急急呼唤，询问一路的辛苦，「呼」字见其急切，「问苦辛」见其牵挂，千言万语凝于一问。两句一怜一问，动作情态如见，慈母形象跃然纸上。此联以白描写人物，不事渲染而母慈子敬之情自现；「清瘦」与「苦辛」相映，儿之劳与母之怜相生，为尾联「不敢叹风尘」蓄势——母亲如此牵挂，儿子又怎忍再诉苦辛？是「以喜写愧」的过渡枢纽。
The third couplet turns to the meeting, writing tenderness through action and speech, the most feeling-laden pair of the poem. At meeting, she pities my thinness writes the mother, at first sight, grieving her son's leanness — before anything else, she sees he has grown thin; the word pity writes all the mother's heartache, the son's thinness showing his toiling abroad, the mother's pity showing the depth of her care. She calls her son, asks of the hardships writes the mother calling eagerly, asking the hardships of the road; the word calls shows her urgency, asks of the hardships her solicitude, a thousand words gathered in one question. Two lines, one pity, one question: action and expression as before the eyes, the fond mother rising from the page. The couplet paints the person in plain strokes, mother's love and son's reverence self-revealed; the thinness and the hardships set off, the son's toil and the mother's pity begetting each other, storing force for the last couplet's dare not sigh of the dust of the road — the mother so solicitous, how could the son bear to tell his hardships? The hinge of writing shame through joy.
低回愧人子， 不敢叹风尘。
I linger, ashamed to be a son, and dare not sigh of the dust of the road.
我低回犹豫，愧为人子，不敢诉说旅途的风尘劳顿。
I linger in shame at being so poor a son; I dare not sigh of the wind and dust of my travels.
尾联是全诗情感的高潮与升华，以「不敢」二字收束，含蓄深永。「低回」写诗人低头徘徊、欲言又止的情态，满腹心事翻涌而强自按捺；「愧人子」直写愧疚——母亲如此牵挂，自己却长年在外、未能承欢膝下，反令母亲忧心清瘦，深愧为人子；「不敢叹风尘」写隐忍之由：本有羁旅劳顿、风尘之苦可诉，却因怕母亲担忧而不敢出口。「不敢」二字千钧，不是「不愿」而是「不忍」，把游子对母亲的体恤与深情写到极处。此联由「愧」入「不敢」，千言万语尽在无声，较之直诉苦辛更深一层，是「以静写动、以隐写情」的典范，也使全诗由「喜」而「愧」的情感脉络臻于完满。
The closing couplet is the emotional climax and elevation, closed by the single word dare not, restrained and deep. I linger writes the poet's bowed, hesitating state, a heart full of thoughts yet pressed down. Ashamed to be a son writes the shame directly: the mother so solicitous, and he away year after year, unable to minister to her, causing her worry over his thinness, deeply ashamed to be a son. Dare not sigh of the dust of the road writes the reason of the forbearance: there is the toil of travel and the dust of the road to tell, yet, fearing the mother's worry, he dares not speak. The words dare not carry a thousand jun: not will not, but cannot bear, writing the traveler's tender care and deep feeling for his mother to the utmost. The couplet moves from shame to dare not, a thousand words in silence, deeper than telling the hardships outright, the model of writing motion through stillness and feeling through restraint, completing the emotional arc from joy to shame.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Both poems depict mother-son affection. Meng Jiao's poem praises a mother's love, while Jiang Shiquan's adds the son's guilt and restraint.
孟郊《游子吟》「慈母手中线，游子身上衣。临行密密缝，意恐迟迟归」与《岁暮到家》同写母子深情，是唐诗与清诗写母爱的双璧，可对照读。孟郊写临行之际：母亲密密缝衣、唯恐儿归迟迟，以「密密缝」的动作写母爱，结于「谁言寸草心，报得三春晖」的报恩之叹，情感直接而明快；蒋士铨写归家之时：寒衣针线密、家信墨痕新，见面怜清瘦、呼儿问苦辛，以实物与对话写母爱，结于「不敢叹风尘」的隐忍之愧，情感含蓄而深婉。一写「临行」，一写「到家」；一颂母恩，一写子心。两诗并读，可见中国诗歌写母爱由直抒到白描的演进，也可见唐诗之明朗与清诗之深婉的差异。
江村 江村 (River Village) 杜甫 · 同写家庭亲情，可比较不同时代的亲情书写 Same theme (family affection)Both poems depict family gatherings. Du Fu's poem shows contentment, while Jiang's focuses on the emotional reunion with his mother.
杜甫《江村》「老妻画纸为棋局，稚子敲针作钓钩」与《岁暮到家》同写家庭亲情，可跨时代对照。杜甫写乱离之后的江村闲居：老妻画棋、稚子垂钓，家人相伴、自得其乐，亲情在日常天伦中自然流露，是乱世中难得的安宁；蒋士铨写岁暮归家的片刻：母亲缝衣寄信、怜瘦问苦，儿子低回愧疚、不敢诉劳，亲情在久别重逢中翻涌激荡，是羁旅中珍贵的团聚。一写家人俱在的日常之乐，一写母子重逢的悲喜交织；一以闲笔写天伦，一以白描写至情。两诗相距千年，而同写家之温暖，可见中国诗歌「家」主题的一脉相承，也可比较盛唐与清代亲情诗的不同风味。